The Blubrry team traveled to Orlando for the 5th annual Podfest Expo. We enjoyed meeting new podcasters and catching up with others, we’ll be back next year. In the extended podcasting world, Spotify and Apple seem to be in a tiff, not because of podcasts but the freedom to act as a fully fledged music and media company, without Apple acting as big brother. This is a quicker episode, but still packed with great insight.

Podcast Stats Soundbites – Smart Speakers

In this edition of Podcast Stats Soundbites we take a look at intelligent assistants and smart speakers. Smart speakers–speakers that contain or work with Google Home, Alexa, and Apple HomeKit to control smart home features, start vehicles, and play music & podcasts–growth surged in 2018. It’s the latest in the tech giants land grab for an ever increasing slice of our lives. But what impact, if any, will the growth of these gadgets have on the podcasting space?

Podcast Stats Soundbite 1: Smart Speaker Podcast Download Growth Rate

According to Blubrry’s proprietary, IAB Tech Lab Certified,podcast statistics, year over year growth from February 2018 through February 2019, market share of podcast downloads via smart speaker grew at a rate of more than 2,500%. No. We didn’t miss a decimal. 2,500% growth, year over year.

But–and there’s always a but–smart speaker use for podcast listening is still relatively small compared to other channels. Podcast downloads via smart speaker accounted for only 1.8% of total downloads. Small, yes, but it’s now larger than podcast downloads via tablets. And if we extrapolate to February 2020, with straight line growth based on the 2018 pattern, podcast downloads via smart speaker could be closing in on 3% market share.

What Might This Mean for Podcasters?

For starters, you probably shouldn’t freak out and change all the things. But, it’s probably a good idea to make sure you are positioned well for discovery via voice search. Just like traditional text-based search, it’s important to be at the top of search results for queries related to your podcast. But, given the user experience for smart speakers, that top search result becomes even more important. One easy thing to do: make sure that your audience knows to ask their smart speaker for your show.

International Women’s Day 2019

Today is International Women’s Day, a holiday in some places and completely ignored in others. Sometimes it’s a day of protest, sometimes a day to celebrate womanhood, and sometimes both. And, before you wonder when International Men’s Day is, that’s not what we’re here to talk about. We’re here to shine a well deserved light, interview-style, on two of Blubrry’s amazing employees, MacKenzie Bennett and Lena Taupier. They’re integral parts of the team that brings you world-class podcast hosting, IAB Tech Lab Certified podcast stats, and the ubiquitous PowerPress WordPress podcasting plugin.

MacKenzie is Services and Affiliates Coordinator at RawVoice, parent company of Blubrrry.

Lena is Lead Software Developer at RawVoice.

Blubrry (B): thanks for taking some time. I know you have plenty to do, so let’s just jump right in. Are you a podcaster?

MacKenzie Bennett (MB): I am, for Blubrry. Outside of work, I don’t have a podcast, maybe one day.

Lena Taupier (LT): No, but I have become a podcast addict.

B: What’s your show show called?

MB: I host the PowerPress Podcast. It’s you guessed it, pretty meta, and all about podcasting news and Blubrry podcasters.

B: How long have you been podcasting?

MB: it’s been about three and a half, four years, now.

B: Why did you get into it?

MB: When I started at Blubrry four years ago I had never been on a podcast. They wanted to me to host with a fresh, unbiased perspective.

LT: I had listened to a couple of episodes here and there over the years but it wasn’t until I started working at Blubrry that I truly became a podcast addict.

B: What’s your favorite thing about podcasting?

MB: People. I interview guests on almost every episode and each time I get to learn about their show and discuss what is new and fun (or awful) in podcasting.

LT: I love that it’s such an open medium where literally anyone who has an interest in a particular area can start creating content that others can consume. I also appreciate how easy it is to listen on the go. Nowadays there’s nothing I’d rather be doing on long drives than listening to my favorite podcasts!

B: Speaking of, what are your current favorite podcasts and why?

LT: Freakonomics – This show explores a wide variety of topics, from the cost/benefit of having 6,500+ languages in the world, to the parking problem in America. I really love numbers and statistics and the hosts do a great good job of gathering data to backup their findings so it’s really interesting. Snap Judgement – This show interviews people from all over the world who have interesting life stories. I am always in awe of the diverse and profound life experiences that I hear about in each episode.

MB: I’m not a subscriber. Rarely will I listen to every episode of shows I love. For that reason, I love series – ones I can’t skip episodes on. Recently finished Happy Face; typical crime show, but sue me for loving to learn about murderers.

B: How long have you been with Blubrry?

MB: 4 years almost to the day! March 9, 2015 was my first day.

LT: 3.5 years and counting!

B: What’s it like working at Blubrry?

LT: It’s very fast-paced and exciting because things are constantly changing due to the nature of the podcast industry. As a software developer, I really enjoy that aspect because it means we get to work on new, exciting projects quite frequently. I also really like that we have an open environment where new ideas are encouraged and we have the flexibility to explore and use new technologies.

MB: Insightful. Constantly learning, but also exciting being part of the new releases, services and changes in the industry.

B: What are you most excited about in the world of podcasting for 2019?

MB: Hard to say at the moment. Edison Research Infinite Dial numbers just came out and I’m surprised how interested I am at looking forward to digging into what is causing listener growth.

LT: I’m excited about all the tools and technologies that are popping up to help make podcasts more discoverable. For example, as AI transcription from audio to text improves, it will become much easier to search through and discover new podcasts based on specific topics.

B: If you could interview anyone (living or dead) for your podcast, who would you choose and why?

LT: I would interview Marie Curie. She was the first woman to win a Nobel prize and the only person ever to win a Nobel Prize in two different sciences. I would love to hear about her earlier years and what it was like to be a female scientist at that time.

MB: Honestly, my first thought was a pirate. I think they’re hilarious, full of good stories, and would love to get their perspective on my horrible Halloween renditions of them over the years.

B: Thanks for chatting, and thanks for what you do for Blubrry! Anything else you’d like to add?

MB: Look out for your other female podcasters. Bond with them, learn with them.

We celebrate 2 years of Your Podcast. Todd is back! Thank you to Jeff, John and Grant for Co-hosting with Mike over the last few episodes. Today Todd and Mike talk about Apple’s emails about meta data and what it all means, Blubrry will be at the RAIN Summit in NYC and Podfest in Orlando this week. We also did a fair amount of Geeking out on file formats and sample rates.

News:

Apple’s email

Dear Podcast Provider,

To improve your experience with Apple Podcasts, we want to share the following information and updates.

Optimize Your Show’s Metadata

The metadata of your show is your product packaging. It includes all of the details about your show — such as title, author name, description — that potential listeners will see on Apple Podcasts. High-quality metadata can help your show be discovered and grow your audience, as it ultimately determines whether it appears in relevant user searches.

Including placeholder text from your hosting provider. For example, descriptions such as “Podcast by [author name],” “New podcast weblog,” “Cover art photo provided by [name],” or “Description goes here.”
Verbatim repetition of the title or author name in the description. For example, “The Very Hungry Tourists by Dr. María Sánchez and John Appleseed.”
Incorporating irrelevant content or spam. For example, show titles like “The Very Hungry Tourists | Travel | Explore | Learn” or author names like “Dr. María Sánchez, coach and travel enthusiast.”
Adding episode numbers in titles. For example, show titles like “The Very Hungry Tourists Episode 01” or episode titles like “01 Broken Heirloom.”
These practices could result in your show being rejected or removed from Apple Podcasts.

Apple Clarifies the previous email

Dear Podcast Provider,

We’ve received a lot of questions about metadata best practices on Apple Podcasts. We want to provide more details and clarification as you think about improving your show’s metadata.

Your Show Won’t Be Removed for Having Episode Numbers in Episode Titles

Starting with iOS 11 in September 2017, we introduced modern RSS tags to improve podcast metadata. These tags include support for seasons, trailers, and episode numbers. The new tags help us present your show to your listeners on Apple Podcasts and present listening data to you in Podcast Analytics.

We encourage you to use the tag to send us your episode numbers. If you decide to include episode numbers in your episode titles.

Apple is Encouraging you to Not Include Episode Numbers in Episode Titles for Apple Podcasts.

Apple is strongly encouraging podcasters to not include episode numbers in the episode titles of their episodes. The fix is fairly simple & straightforward but could be pretty labor intensive if you have a lot of episodes.

How to Remove Podcast Episode Numbers

To remove the episode numbers for your title simply edit each post and remove the episode numbers. Simple, yes. But could be time consuming if you’ve got years of episodes. Better to fix it now, though, than to be smacked by Apple.

How to Remove Podcast Episode Numbers JUST from Apple Podcasts

Apple Podcasts may be losing market share, but they’re still the dominant player. We are of the opinion that they want to clean up the look of the Apple Podcasts directory. But you need to understand how removing the episode number for Apple’s sake will affect the look of your show in other applications.

So far, here is what we found with the <itunes:title> tag vs. the plain old main <title> tag.
Google Podcasts – Main title
Pocket Casts – Apple title
Podcast Addict – Main title
BeyondPod – Stripped out the number but uses the main title ??
Spotify – Main Title
Tunein – Main title
Overcast – Apple Title
Himalaya – Apple Title

Good news, though, for PowerPress users: you have options you can tailor your episode feed to Apple Podcasts to remove episode numbers just from Apple Podcasts and those that use the Apple Title. So, if you would like to have the numbers in your main title on your site and those apps listed above, and remove it just for the Apple Title do the following:

In the Episodes tab of PowerPress settings, enable “ iTunes Episode Title Field” and “iTunes Episode Number, Season and Type Fields”

Save Changes at the bottom of that page.

Edit each post and click “modify” in the podcast episode area.

Type in the new title for Apple Podcasts in the ‘iTunes title’ box.

Update the post.

If you want to make these changes, If you have 299 episodes in your feed consider lowering that number until you have edited your posts.

Again, this only works in PowerPress. So if you are using a feed using Blubrry.com use the advanced edit button to expose these tags

Not everyone is fit to host a podcast, not at the beginning at least. There is a lot of learning that goes into hosting a podcast, writing show notes, finding guests, learning how to interview, the list goes on and on. But the guest this week, Lara, was aware of what she was getting into with a strong background in marketing. They discuss attending events, with the perspective as an attendee and exhibitor, and how they’ve been the fish out of water before. It’s easy to get overwhelmed or lost in the work involved with a podcast, and she has a great outlook on how to tackle everything involved. Speaking of being overwhelmed, they end their chat by talking about streaming services – is there too much content available?

A little about Lara

Lara Zuehlke is on a mission to help women ages 40+ age with grit and grace. Through her podcast, Fit Over 40, and her programs at ZulaFit, Lara offers a mind-body-soul approach to help women let go of the weight (wait) for the last time. An award-winning writer and speaker, Lara is also a certified food psychology coach (Spencer Institute) and certified energy practitioner (ISEE Global). You can meet Lara and learn more at: www.zulafit.com.

Thanks for listening and please subscribe via your favorite podcast app. If you’d like to be a guest on the show reach out to MacKenzie. She’s always looking for fun, new podcasters that use Blubrry services, specifically PowerPress.

We’ve been loving our new desk by the team over at Convo by Design. Josh Cooperman is also a podcaster and knew we wanted something specific to fit our needs. If you’re looking to upgrade your podcasting set up, give him a shot.

Podcast Stats Soundbite: Another Bite at the Apple

Podcast stats aren’t just for nerds anymore– at least, not if you want to learn about market trends and grow your podcast. As part of our regular series on podcast stats, this week’s Podcast Stats Soundbite is as American as Apple Podcasts. Yeah. We’re going to make another Apple Podcasts prediction.

As previously discussed, Apple Podcasts is still, far and away, king. Now, maybe this one is obvious, but to remain at the top of the hill, you have to outcompete all comers. But a challenger only has to be right once to topple the big kahuna. Especially if you’re the market leader because of convenience. Think about your own experience: podcast discovery is less than intuitive, to get your podcast on Apple Podcasts you don’t actually upload it there (which is super confusing to podcasting newcomers), and on and on. Ok. We’ll be more blunt: Apple Podcasts is the Internet Explorer of podcasting.

Yep. You read that right. Based on our proprietary, IAB Tech Lab Certified, podcast stats data, we see an industry shift underway. We have Apple device data back to 2007, and Android data going back nearly a decade. And the trends are plain as day. So plain, in fact, let’s take another step out on this branch and make an even bolder prediction: Apple Podcasts will drop to ~35% market share in 2019.

There are simply too many other options out there. Especially with Spotify attempting to muscle its way into the podcasting space. Which, honestly, we think is a good thing. More competition forces all of us to stay on our toes, and keep our platforms top notch.

Household names have become persistent in podcasting, and Sunday evening’s episode of the Simpson’s and a new show called Newt’s World are no exception. Longtime podcaster Marc Maron was a guest on the Simpson’s recently and his character interviewed Krusty. Well-known politician, Newt Gingrich, has a new podcast on society. Many would argue that well-known names like Marc and Newt flood the podcasting space, but they certainly do bring some more popularity to the medium. This week Mike was joined by a relatively new intern, Grant Coleman. He’s working with the team in Columbus as a developer.

News:

Marc Maron interviews Krusty on a podcast for The Simpsons!

Newt Gingrich has launched a new podcast with Westwood One called, Newt’s World Podcast. Honing in on all aspects of society, and his background in politics, history, and teaching, he’ll focus on a variety of topics.

Not a ton of information we can provide, but Apple has changed the Terms of Service for podcast statistics.

Topics:

About Grant: College student from Ohio.

Development/software internship at Blubrry

Do you need a website for your podcast? This topics keeps coming up. Our take on it; the answer is yes, you do want a website.

Support:

Email Address changes: Based on our system, they have to be made by Blubrry support staff.

Requirements for Spotify via Blubrry: What are the reasons shows do not get approved for Spotify?

PowerPress tip: UNLESS you know why you are doing it, do not use Category Podcasting, Custom Podcast Channels, taxonomy Podcasting or Post-Type podcasting in PowerPress. There are specific reasons you might want to do it, but please, PLEASE ask support first. We may have a better way to do what you want to accomplish.

Podcast Stats Soundbites: Political Podcasts After an Election

A few weeks ago we examined podcast stats related to religious podcasts. So, in the interest of continuing to talk about the taboo, in this week’s edition of Podcast Stats Soundbites we thought we’d take a look at political podcasts. Because here we are again–in the US, at least. A few months removed from the 2018 midterm elections, and just under two years from the 2020 presidential election. Which means, of course, that the party not in the White House is off to the (primary) races. Which got us thinking: how does the podcasting space react to elections in the US? But first, the obligatory disclaimer: we are here to look at podcast stats data, not to endorse a particular political point of view.

Well. It’s like you might expect: a presidential election year generates an increase in the number of Political podcasts. But, in the 9 months immediately following a presidential election–going back to 2008–there are new podcasts added in all categories across the board. And Religion reigns supreme. By far.

News & Politics podcasts did see a (relative) 25% jump (from 4.35% to 5.4%) in the number of new podcasts in the 9 months following the 2016 presidential election. But that only took them to 5.4% of total new podcasts created.

Presidential Election Year

Percentage of New Podcasts That Are Political

2008

4.44

2012

4.35

2016

5.40

So, for all the attention the news media gives presidential elections, and for all the chatter on social networks, it appears that people would rather share their perspectives and stories in podcasts about religion, culture & travel, comedy, and business. In a followup post, we will examine the number of listeners these new podcasts generate. Here’s a hint, though, from a previous Podcast Stats Soundbite: Religious podcasts dominate both new podcast creation and downloads per episode.

Sometimes, podcasting is as easy as setting a schedule and sticking to it. Sure, there are a myriad of other factors that go into the production, publishing, etc. but there is no show if you can’t sit down and record. Sarah Duncan and Pamela Walker-Dees know a thing or two about managing schedules and they decided Monday evenings were their go-to recording schedule for their podcast, Motherhood on Tap.

And in the theme of setting schedules, we might have reordered this one a bit too early. A big topic of discussion on this episode was about Spotify purchasing Gimlet and in the time between recording and publishing, it happened. Regardless, still some good discussion on the topic, as well as Apple stepping up their game a bit once again by providing more opportunities for listeners and creators.

Thanks for listening and please subscribe via your favorite podcast app. If you’d like to be a guest on the show reach out to MacKenzie. She’s always looking for fun, new podcasters that use Blubrry services, specifically PowerPress.

We’ve been loving our new desk by the team over at Convo by Design. Josh Cooperman is also a podcaster and knew we wanted something specific to fit our needs. If you’re looking to upgrade your podcasting set up, give him a shot.